Through Your Eyes
by Ciel the Hedgehog
Summary: Eggman has finally figured out the perfect plan to create his empire, and rid himself of that pesky hedgehog once and for all. Tails steps up to stop him, but this time, there are lives at stake. And not all those lives want to go down without a fight.
1. Schemes Arise

**...What's this? Ciel is finally writing a new fanfic?**

**Yes, she is. And it has nothing to do with her other fanfics. In fact, I'll just be writing this one; no funny author notes here. I hope you enjoy, though.**

**Disclaimer: Sonic, Tails, Eggman, and all other related characters belong to Sega. A few zone names, the characterization of Metal Sonic, and Clive all belong to me. Thank you, and have a nice day.**

* * *

It was nighttime, but it was not dark inside the giant metal base hidden deep in forest-steeped Needle Mountain Zone, only visible by its light when darkness fell. Not that there was anyone to see the building, for its creator had no neighbors for miles around. He had when he first started building, but he had taken care of those pests quickly enough. No one was to know the existence of Dr. Eggman's new lair, the Egg Rampart.

Currently, it was close to midnight, but there was no way to tell inside the Egg Rampart. The lights were always on, and Dr. Eggman was always at work. Even in his sleep, his mind was abuzz with plots, and his minions were at work building and preparing.

Soon, he'd be the dictator of this land, and after that, the whole planet.

More importantly, soon, he'd be rid of that pesky blue hedgehog and his annoying little friends.

"Would you like to know how I'm going to do it?" Eggman asked, glancing back at his most recent incarnation of Metal Sonic. No matter how hard he tried, they always ended up either rebellious or sharing some other dreaded trait with their original counterpart. This was number 6 in that line, still a prototype at best, but it was the first to test out the new Absolute Egg Authority Chip.

Metal Sonic 6 –or Metson, as he had taken to calling himself- let his red eyes flick on, staring at the Doctor. "Let me guess. Send a giant, flashy robot after him? Make a moon base and blast everything? Or perhaps we can awaken another sleeping deity. According to the old data banks, those plans always worked so well."

Eggman felt his face twitch. Metson was perfectly loyal so far, but his rebellious streak came in the form of sarcasm. A trait that must be isolated and destroyed later, but for now, he'd make due.

"No, Number Six. Nothing so…"

"Unnecessarily complicated, sir?"

"Indeed." Dr. Eggman leaned back in his chair, and took off his goggles for a moment. The room was a far lighter gray without them, the walls almost white except for the occasional button, switch, or door. One door was the entrance, one was the emergency exit, and the third…well, that was also an "emergency exit." The thought of it made the doctor smile. While much of the good doctor's effort had gone into creating his most lethal base yet, he'd indulged in a few…"amusements," such as that "exit" which actually led to the Egg-O-Dile. Not the most efficient robot, but enough to catch any foolish heroes off guard.

Eggman's grin widened as he recounted the other additions, most far less…asinine. There were vast amounts of weaponry, from turrets to bombs. Whole sections were rigged to blow up if necessary, on the off chance the heroes were trapped without the good doctor nearby. There was a secondary emergency base underground, and facilities for creating and manufacturing new robots. He'd gone back to basics with these bots, using the old life-as-fuel schtick. Just…improved. Just like his plan.

"Number Six," Dr. Eggman suddenly asked, "What is the one thing of mine that Sonic can never destroy?"

Metson mused on this for a moment, even making a hum to accompany the thought. "You, sir?"

"Too specific. Think about the big picture."

"You're a pretty big picture yourself, sir."

Eggman resisted the urge to fire one of the room's miniature spike bombs at the bot. It'd be a horrible waste of a bomb.

Metson eventually said, "Ah…your unconquerable will to take over the world?"

"Aside from that." Dr. Eggman slid his goggles back on, and the room was shaded in darkness. "The answer is…Sonic and his little friends can't destroy life."

"…That's pretty obvious, sir. Then they'd be in jail for murder."

Eggman shook his head, rising from his chair and towering over his bumbling creation. "Think about this, Number Six. In all the years we have fought, Sonic has never even tried to kill me." The Doctor began to pace around his control station, but never took his eyes from Metson. "The few times I used others in my plans, such as Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow, Sonic did his best not to hurt them aside from the occasional skirmish. Even with some of your predecessors, he tried not to destroy them." He abruptly stopped mid-step, pulling himself to full height. "Do you realize what this means?"

Metson shrugged. "You already said it, sir. He can't take a life."

Metson probably expected a tantrum of frustration to follow, for the Doctor to curse the bot for repetition and lack of blah blah blah. Instead, Eggman just stopped. And smiled.

"So that's what can stop him, Number Six. A living person he'll refuse to kill…but who will have no qualms with killing him."

Sonic was one with the wind again.

That's what happened whenever Eggman was lying low. Sonic would take the time to travel the world, and neither hide nor hair of him could be found. Only his closest of friends knew where he was most of the time, and sometimes, even they were left in the dark.

Of course, Tails thought, it wasn't his job to keep an eye out for his big brother. He had far more important things to do, machines to build and problems to fix. And keep an eye on Eggman. It seemed that out of all of Sonic's friends, Tails was the only one who tried to figure out what Eggman was up to. Perhaps others kept tabs on the madman –Shadow had mentioned spying with Omega a few times, and surely GUN tried sometimes- but the twin-tailed fox certainly had no help with keeping track of Eggman.

To be honest, he hadn't found Eggman's new hiding spot yet. The Doctor had found an ingenious spot this time, that was for sure. Nor did Tails know what he was up to. There had been a few robot sightings, but that could be misleading, what with the existence of old and rogue bots.

There had been a few cases of small villages suddenly disappearing. That was disturbing, even if most incidents had been explained. Tails could practically smell the stench of Eggman from it, even if it was from the gut sense he rarely used.

Today, he'd been searching a whole day, with no such luck. He lay back in his chair, and slowly rubbed his closed eyelids. After a day of staring at computer monitors, the sight of nothing but darkness was comforting.

He wanted this to stop. He was bordering on his eleventh birthday, and what was he doing? Searching for a missing madman. At this rate, the fox would go mad himself, spending his days fighting enemies even after they were long gone. Hopefully, all of this would end before that happened. Eggman would come to his senses, or stay captured, or something. Anything, as long as there was an end to this mess.

Just as his thoughts began to drift from mad scientists to the prospect of finally eating dinner, the phone rang. He picked it up –it was a cellphone Amy bought him last year, now modified and perfect except for its _horrid_ pink coloration- and asked who was calling.

"Tails, this is Vanilla." He was surprised, not by her calling, but by her tone of voice. This wasn't the Vanilla that asked if you wanted to go on a picnic, this was the Vanilla with a giant robot standing just outside her door with Cream nowhere in sight.

"What's wrong ma'am? Did you find something?"

"Y-yes. I just got a call from a friend in the Glory Forest Zone. She says there's a robot attack, and…"

"And what?" Tails was already calculating the code for Glory Forest into his computer, unsure of where exactly it was.

"…And there's something else, but she didn't say. The…the line went dead." At this point, the elder rabbit sounded practically in tears. "Please Tails, do something! Get Sonic, or-"

"I'll be right over there," the fox said. Hopefully, she wouldn't try to persuade him otherwise. If there was one thing he hated, it was people thinking he was too young to be doing what he'd been doing for years; fighting Eggman.

Instead, Vanilla managed to sob out a thank you. "And do be careful, Tails. Cream wouldn't be the only one upset if something happened to you."

With a hasty goodbye, Tails hung up the phone, and began to gather his things. For now, Eggman was still a villain at large –and today, it was up to Tails to stop him.


	2. Fading Glory

The Glory Forest Zone was a lesser-known village, resting in a quiet valley. Plants there were always vivid green in color, and the residents lived slow but happy lives.

Except for today.

Robots crowded the tiny village, with energy bullets firing every which way. All the citizens had either run into the forest, or had been knocked unconscious. As Tails arrived, he saw a robot he didn't recognize hauling a squirrel into the sky. Using one of the two blasters still equipped to the Tornado, he shot the robot out of the sky, and was immediately running to catch the falling citizen. She was small, so the twin-tailed fox managed to catch her fall.

"You okay?" He asked. She nodded, and he pulled out his arm cannon from the Tornado. He'd built it around the time Eggman's scheme to use the Gizoid, but had modified it recently. As he spoke with the girl, he fired at any robot he saw. "What happened?"

"These…these robots just…showed up and attacked," the girl muttered. Tails realized she couldn't be any older than seven. "We…we ran, but they caught up…they even caught Billy, and he's faster than I am." Then she began to sob.

Tails tried to pat her back with his unarmed hand, but he'd never been the best with comforting civilians. That was Sonic's forte. "Look kid. It'll be okay. Have you seen where they've been going?"

As he said this, he glanced over at the corpse of the unfamiliar robot. It had the basic figure of the old Swatbots, but appeared to have the stronger metal build and weaponry of the more recent E-Series. This one was a deep green in color, its features streamlined; it almost resembled an arrow.

The girl lifted a shaky finger toward a patch of forest, snapping Tails out of his observation. She didn't say a word, but Tails noticed her blinking back tears.

"Thanks. Find a good place to hide, okay?" He shot down a robot behind them, and counted the fallen robots around him. Eight. He waved the girl off as she ran to hide, covering her from behind as he shot down a few more robots. Unlike the unusual model, most of these were modified versions of older robots, like Buzz Bombers and the like. He strode past them once he thought the girl was safe, and decided to mull on it later.

Right now, he had people to save.

To Metson, it was a virtue to be just a prototype. It meant that he didn't need to be taken seriously, so he was able to slack around while he watched the other robots do the work.

Okay, so technically, he was supervising, but wasn't that just watching? All he had to do was make sure no robots rebelled, and to make sure Eggman's little "plan" went well underway. Metson didn't have high hopes for it, but to be honest, he didn't understand organic beings all that well. They weren't just flawed, but unpredictable; at least with Metson, he was dependably lazy and sarcastic.

Metson glanced over at the pet project. It seemed to be doing well enough, he supposed. It –well, it was a he, but Metson preferred the term "it" for irony's sake- was ruthless in capturing citizens, for just as they thought they'd found a savior, they were captured. Metson had no clue why they were capturing people, since he'd zoned out the good doctor's rants to annoy him.

The project turned to him. "Well? What do you see?"

"I see lots of trees. Big old trees with bright green leaves. And the grass is bright green. It's all green. Even the stupid sky."

The pet project shook its head. "I know you're joking."

"Oh good. I was scared you didn't have sarcasm where you're from."

Instead of a witty comeback, the reply was a blade under his chrome neck. "Alright alright, I get it already. No humor for you."

The project looked about to say something, but then its ears pricked up. It turned its head toward the forest, and lightly snarled.

"What? Did someone drop a pin?"

"No." It removed its blade from Metson's neck. "We have opposition."

Tails ran through the forest, tails twirling behind him for an extra burst of speed. He'd found a few civilians, which he'd saved, and a few robots, which he quickly disposed of. He had yet to see another one of the new models, though. Something about that was troubling.

The fox paused for a moment, thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He found himself at the edge of a clearing, where mighty pine trees guarded a patch of grass and clover. Someone was standing there; was it another one of those robots?

No, Tails decided when he snuck in for a closer look, it was not. The figure was a person, though it was hard to tell the species. He –it looked like a he, at least, but it was hard to tell with the baggy clothes he was wearing- was a bit taller than Sonic, and his fur was light brown and speckled with black spots. And his face, it was mostly covered by a hood from his sweatshirt. Even his eyes were obscured by shadows, though Tails wouldn't have expected them to be that dark.

Cautiously, Tails stepped into the clearing. He kept the arm cannon to his side, and put his other hand up. "Hey. You okay?"

The figure shifted his stance; he was leaning lightly on a green cane. "I suppose I am, considering the situation."

There wasn't a trace of fear in those words. The fox's fur began to stand on end.

"That's good." Tails took another tentative step forward. "D'you need any help out, then?"

The figure chuckled, and it occurred to Tails that he was probably a hyena.

"No. No kid, I think it's you who'll need help." He straightened himself, lifting his cane and lashing it out to his side. It extended into a pole taller than either of them, with a small blade at the end.

Tails crouched, set his arm cannon to Stun –there was no need to hurt this guy, whatever his deal was- and charged. He didn't rush forward, but instead darted to the side and fired. But before the shot was even out, the hyena was running out of the way, circling around for a strike. Tails managed to block the blow with the side of the cannon, only to get struck in the back. He stumbled, then whipped around and fired the cannon again.

This time, the figure ducked, then struck the fox's legs. Tails began to fall, then caught himself by spinning his twin tails. He took to the air, and again fired.

The hyena was noticeably slower in noticing this last shot, barely moving in time to avoid being temporarily paralyzed. He seemed to have lost track of Tails, then snapped his fingers. He finally glanced up.

"Ah, I see. Tricky kid." He ran forward, stabbing his spear into the ground and using it to vault into the air. Tails spun out of the way, only to find the sun glaring white-hot into his eyes. The temporary blindness distracted him, and he fell just far enough for the hyena now on the ground to raise a spear and catch the fox in the stomach. He came hurtling into the ground with a solid thud.

Tails sat up, only to find a blade against his neck. The hyena stood over him, his back to the sun. Even from this close, Tails still couldn't see his eyes. Just a hazy wall of shadows.

"That was fun, kiddo. I must admit, I haven't had much practice against flyers."

Tails gritted his teeth. "But why fight me? I have people to save."

"But you're not on my side, and you're armed. Therefore, I take you out." The hyena smirked. "I think the good doctor's mentioned you. Miles Tails Prower, correct?"

The fox's eyes widened. "You're working with Eggman?"

Before he could get a response, the hyena suddenly darted out of the way. His blade left a light scrape on Tails' neck. Seconds later, a large hammer came crashing to the ground where the hyena had been standing.

"What do you think you're doing?" Amy shrieked, brandishing her hammer high above her head. Tails stumbled to his feet, with no clue as to why Amy was even here. Perhaps Vanilla had called her.

"I think I was going to take that boy back with me," The hyena replied simply, his expression blank. "Unfortunately, it seems I've wasted a bit too much time here." He turned to walk away.

"Oh no you don't!" Amy ran after him, preparing to strike again. The hyena simply sidestepped, and as Amy accidentally ran past, whipped around and struck her back, sending her tumbling to the ground. He then walked past her, snapping his fingers.

"By the way," he said, "the name's Clive. And here I thought the good doctor said Amy Rose and Mr. Prower were an actual challenge." He glanced back at them, and flashed a smirk. "Guess I heard wrong."

And with that, he was gone.


End file.
